Leveraging Residence Hall Assignments to Increase Engagement in a First-Year Seminar

Sarah A. Forbes, Director of Student Academic Success, Kyle A. Rhodes, Business Process Analyst, Student Affairs, Mary J. Szabo, Instructional Designer, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, all incoming first-year students are enrolled in a required, one-credit-hour seminar during their first term. The course is taught by staff who have been at Rose-Hulman for at least a year and have either completed or are enrolled in a graduate program, including three graduate assistants. Instructor training is conducted through a hybrid approach, with both a face-to-face workshop and supplemental materials online. In alignment with the mission to provide individual attention and support, Rose-Hulman leverages a small-group model, enrolling 12-15 students in each of 40 course sections. In theory, these small class sections should provide more opportunity for each student to be engaged, with a more relaxed setting and less ability to hide out in the crowd. However, there has not been any evidence to support this in the past.

Week after week, instructors stood in front of their classes desperately hoping that students would talk or show some form of engagement. As noted by Johnson (2013), evidence of student engagement includes paying attention, taking notes, listening, asking questions, responding to questions, following requests, and reacting. Few of these behaviors were observed in the seminar. In an attempt to prompt student engagement, instructors tried rewarding students with treats, as well as explaining why engagement was important to the learning process. These tactics were not successful. Cold calling was the most effective technique, as it forced students to talk; however, students’ responses did not promote an ongoing dialogue.

...the arrangement can help [faculty] get to know the students better. For example, they can visit that floor during move-in day to welcome the students and parents or participate in residence hall events throughout the year.

Through various forms of evaluation, instructors asked for information on “how to handle unresponsive students” and “suggestions for getting students more engaged in the class when they are reluctant to talk.” Instructors were not the only ones to notice this issue, as reflected by comments on the student course evaluation:

• “I think participation needs to improve.”

• “For the small groups to actually work, the students must contribute more and be more active in the activities.”

Aside from the awkward silence, students were missing out on the benefits of engagement, which research suggests may contribute to learning and have a positive impact on course grades and even persistence (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, & Kinzie, 2008). Further, this lack of engagement profoundly impacted course staffing. Several instructors declined to continue teaching the first-year seminar, internalizing the lack of student engagement as a reflection of their teaching ability. With fewer instructors, class sizes started increasing, thus moving away from our mission.

A New Enrollment Strategy

While common, this lack of engagement was not evident in all firstyear seminars. Observations of one section revealed students who easily conversed with each other and with the instructor. What accounted for the difference? One theory: out-of-class connections among the students. Enrollment in this section was limited to students in a living–learning community. Because the students were living together on the same residence hall floor, they were familiar and comfortable with each other prior to beginning the first-year seminar.

In Fall 2015, we conducted a pilot test to determine whether housing assignments could be leveraged to increase engagement in the first-year seminar. First-year students at Rose-Hulman are pre-registered for their fall quarter courses based on their declared major. Student Affairs provided housing assignments and the number of course sections needed; the Registrar’s Office created a rule in the scheduling software to place students into a section of the first-year seminar with others living on the same residence hall floor. Academic advisors were made aware of the enrollment strategy and committed to maintaining the residence-based assignments when they met with their advisees during orientation.

Prior to the start of the course, students completed a week-long orientation process with the other residents on their floors. Throughout orientation, students participated in many common activities to familiarize themselves with each other and to promote the development of a cohesive floor identity.

The Result: Increased Engagement

During Fall 2015, approximately 85% of first-year students were enrolled in a section with others from their residence hall floor. If Fall 2018, residence-based seminar assignments increased to 96%. As part of a larger course evaluation, instructors were surveyed during midterm of the pilot year to identify what aspects of the course were going well. The question was intentionally broad in order to ascertain whether there was a big enough impact for instructors to notice. A number of instructors commented about the increased engagement:

• “The group talks pretty well without me having to really pull teeth.”

• “I like that the students are all from the same floor. They speak more freely in class, and there is a sense of camaraderie.”

• “Participation in discussions during class time is fruitful.”

A focus group was also conducted with students. They reported that having a relationship with their classmates outside class led to more participation in class. With such noticeable success, this course enrollment model has been used for the past four years. Three years ago, a specific question was added to the student course evaluation to determine the helpfulness of being in class with students from their residence hall floor. The percentage of students reporting “extremely helpful” or “very helpful” has remained approximately 75%.

The Future: Promoting the Enrollment Strategy

At the time the new enrollment strategy was piloted, all residence hall floors at Rose-Hulman housed a single gender. As a result, the first-year seminar sections were also single gender. In Fall 2018, Rose-Hulman conducted a pilot with gender-inclusive residence hall floors resulting in two first-year seminar sections that were gender inclusive. Feedback from the instructors indicated that the level of engagement in these sections was similar to, or even higher, than the single-gender sections they have taught in the past. As the institute expands to offer more inclusive living environments, the first-year seminar will become less segregated.

We plan to continue the first-year seminar enrollment strategy moving forward, while emphasizing the potential benefits to students and faculty. For students, the emphasis will be on leveraging each other as resources, given their close, physical proximity in the residence hall. For instructors, the arrangement can help them get to know the students better. For example, they can visit that floor during move-in day to welcome the students and parents or participate in residence hall events throughout the year.

While our enrollment strategy does not guarantee engagement, building on an already established connection has demonstrated effectiveness. If course assignments based on residence hall floor is not a feasible criteria, institutions might consider other ways to establish connections among students, such as groupings by major. New student orientation may also provide opportunities for helping students get to know one another before classes begin.

This article was originally published in November 2019.